Quality recruits anticipate
signing, success at Purdue
By Greg Doddridge
Staff
Writer
Two nationally-known football recruits will officially
become Boilermakers today when they sign their national letters of intent.
Linebacker Brent Grover and quarterback Kyle Orton
will be at Purdue next season.
Grover excels on the field and in the classroom.
The 6-foot-5, 250-pound senior scored a1430 on his SAT and recorded
226 tackles this past season at Highlands High School in Fort Thomas,
Ky.
His high school football coach, Dale Mueller, said,
"He has such a nose for the ball. He is a good hitter with great instincts,
speed and hands."
His 226 tackles, including 57 for loss, came in
15 games during last season. And he only played until halftime in most
of those games because his team had such a commanding lead. His tackle
total translates to 15.1 tackles a game.
"The guys at Purdue will really like him," Mueller
said. "He's a player's player. He'll get in the weight room. The toughest
guy on the field will like him."
Grover also received attention from Georgia Tech,
Northwestern and Penn State. He received nearly 25 written offers. However,
it was his visit to Purdue that hooked him, his mom, Pam Campbell, said.
"He got a view of Purdue football excitement during
his official visit on the day of the Ohio State game (Oct. 28)," Campbell
said. "He liked the excitement especially when the fans tried to take
the goalposts down."
Orton was also drawn to Purdue by the "basketball
on grass" excitement.
"I watched Purdue on TV and I watched their passing
offense and I wanted to be a part of that," Orton said. "Also, I like
coaches (Greg) Olson and (Joe) Tiller."
The 6-4, 210-pound quarterback is a senior at Southeast
Polk High School near Altoona, Iowa. He threw for 1,366 yards last season
going 95-for-180 with 12 passing touchdowns. According to MaxEmfinger's
Blue Chip Recruiting, Orton is the eighth-best quarterback in the nation.
"I think he has an extremely strong arm; the ball
explodes out of his arm," said Kent Horstmann, Orton's high school football
coach. "His agility and quickness improved between his junior and senior
years. He throws the ball on the run very well, but he is also good
at dropping back for the pass."
Those attributes placed Orton at the center of
a recruiting war between Purdue, Colorado, Iowa, Iowa State, Illinois,
Stanford and Oklahoma. His focus eventually came down to a team with
a passing offense that he liked — a team that ran formations that
he would sometimes run in high school.
"We ran the ball a lot," Orton said. "Lots of 'I'
formations. However, when we did throw, we spread it out with four and
five receivers."
A pass-happy formation such as that makes Orton
want the top QB spot next season.
"I am looking forward to competing with Brandon
Hance," Orton said. "When it comes to fall practice, I definitely want
to be the starting quarterback."
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